[Mechanism of autoantibody production]

Autoantibody is a hallmark of autoimmune diseases. In systemic autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, the target of autoantibodies are mostly nuclear autoantigens like nucleosome and U1RNP. Since immune system comprise autoreactivity to develop itself, the chance of autoantibody appearance should not be rare. Therefore, the disturbance of immunoregulation for nuclear autoantigens might allow the persistence of autoantibody production. The studies of tolerance of nuclear antigens is required to understand autoimmune diseases and to develop more advanced immunotherapy.